Photo book of my Alaska trip (Pearl, July 2016)

[lmintzer]

Here is a link to a Shutterfly book I just finished of my family's first cruise to Alaska. To view, click the link. Then click the orange "view photo book" oval below the book, and finally, click on "full screen" (top left). Hope this works. Sorry for the multiple attempts.

 

 

 

https://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AatXLhu4YtWxs&cid=SM-PBAPP

Edited January 25, 2017 by lmintzer

[triptolemus]

Your whale watching experience was amazing. The whale gods were smiling upon you that day... Awesome shots.

[ighten]

Excellent pics... You had pretty good luck:)

[js]

Thanks. Amazing!! I saw your thread earlier today and made me think about doing the same thing but on the disboards. How do you "break" the link later in the future. Thanks so much!

 

 

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[lmintzer]

Thanks. It was a drizzly, somewhat dreary day for whale watching--but the whales did put on a good show. Gastineau Guiding gave a fantastic tour.

 

Weather in Ketchikan was perfect. Partly sunny and 60s. Very rare!

 

Not so lucky in Skagway--we were scheduled for a heli/glacier landing, and it was cancelled due to low cloud cover and rain.

 

I made an extra copy of the photo book in Shutterly. To break the link, I'll just throw the copy away.

[GhickfromTN]

Thanks for sharing your photos. We are considering this same trip.

What is the weather like in July? Avg. temps.? Avg, daylight hours?

[lmintzer]

Our trip was the very last week of July. The days were long! It was light until about 11. Sunrise was quite early, but with the curtains drawn in our stateroom, it didn't wake us.

 

Weather was not bad at all! 70s when we left Seattle. Sea days were comfortable--probably averaged in the 50s. My kids enjoyed a lot of time on the basketball court, rock wall, and my younger son and I enjoyed the hot tub. We had a few days with drizzle. Never stormy while at sea. Juneau was damp--drizzly and overcast and in the high 40s/low 50s. We bunded up and wore rain gear and were fine. Probably in the 30s/40s in Glacier Bay, which was expected. Skagway was drizzly with low cloud cover. Temps were in the 50s. Ketchikan, normally rainy, was partly cloudy to sunny with temps in the 60s. It was really very nice.

 

All and all, decent weather for Alaska. Just sad the conditions weren't right for our heli ride in Skagway. If tours by air are important to you, I'd schedule in your first port so that if it rains, you could schedule in a later port as a contingency.

[OneWord]

Awesome

[destiny217]

Wonderful photos. I am so jealous of your whale photos! Brings back good memories of our Alaska cruise on the Pearl.

[Molokai-Chuck]

Very nice ... thanks for sharing.

Chuck

[cbtravel1]

Thank you for sharing, your pictures are wonderful.

[redbaron70]

Thank you for sharing your pictures! How did your kids like the ship?

[jemz1949]

Your pictures are fantastic not to mention your valuable commentary. Family plans to take the same cruise this July 2017. Understanding that things change, did you happen to post/save the Dailies from your cruise?

[lmintzer]

Redbaron70: My kids did enjoy the ship! It was their first cruise. My older son (15) had a particularly good time with some of the other teens. He went to Entourage the first night and then on later nights for movies. Other than that, he would find kids on the sports courts where they'd play a lot of basketball and some soccer. He met another kid whose family was staying in the Haven and got himself invited back to their cabin (LOL!). I think he even went in the Haven hot tubs with him (now I read that that isn't allowed, but I guess no one asked or tried to stop him). My younger son (12.5) was too young (by 4 months) for teen club and had no interest in the kids' clubs which felt too babyish for him. He hung out with the adults most of the time and was fine with it. He particular favorite was Bingo. His aunt and uncle played once every sea day and there would be a free "kids card" with every set of adult cards. He enjoyed the whole experience of playing in the Spinnaker with a big crowd a lot. He also tried the rock wall twice and went with me in the hot tubs a few times. He also really enjoyed the two magic shows.

 

Both loved the specialty restaurants (in particular, Cagneys and Teppanyaki), and my older son, who is very athletic and needs to eat a lot and frequently, loved having food available to him at the buffet whenever he needed a snack. It was great for me, too, because I wasn't constantly worried about when/where their next meal would be.

 

Jemz1949: Thanks for your kind words. I do really like photography! I took almost 2000 photos total! Yes, I did save the dailies. I haven't photographed or scanned them yet, but I can. It looks like someone else is posted photos of their summer '16 cruise on the Pearl (showing up on the first page of threads). I see at least a few dailies posted. If you don't see what you want there, please let me know, and I'll see if I can get mine photographed and attached.

Edited January 28, 2017 by lmintzer

[redbaron70]

Thanks so much, lmintzer! We are on the Pearl in April with our 15 year old and 13 year old, so I'm happy to hear that your kids had a good time. I appreciate the info!

 

 

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